Latifah's 'Equalizer' stays strong after Super Bowl premiere
LOS ANGELES (AP) - CBS' reboot of 'œThe Equalizer'ť with Queen Latifah took advantage of its post-Super Bowl series premiere to continue its strong showing in prime time ratings with its second episode.
The revenge drama came in third place and had a major, and inevitable, drop after drawing 20 million viewers in the most coveted of all time slots after the network's airing of the 'œSuper Bowl." Its 8.2 million viewers last week put it behind only old ratings standard bearers 'œNCIS'ť and 'œ60 Minutes," according to figures released Wednesday by the Nielsen company.
'œThe Equalizer," with Latifah in the title role, is a remake of CBS's 1980s series that was more recently the source of two films with Denzel Washington. It helped give CBS all five of the top five shows. 'œFBI'ť ranked fourth, 'œYoung Sheldon'ť fifth.
For the week, CBS was the most-watched broadcast network, averaging 5.2 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 3.8 million, NBC had 3.2 million, Fox had 2.9 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 990,000.
Coverage of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump kept MSNBC and CNN closer than usual, but Fox News Channel was still the week's top cable network, averaging 2.5 million viewers. MSNBC had 2.49 million, CNN had 1.97 million, TNT had 1.2 million and HGTV had 1.1 million.
ABC's 'œWorld News Tonight'ť led the evening news ratings race with an average of 9.5 million viewers. NBC's 'œNightly News'ť had 8 million and the 'œCBS Evening News'ť had 6.1 million.
For the week of Feb. 8-14, the 20 most-watched programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. 'œNCIS,'ť CBS, 9.8 million.
2. 'œ60 Minutes,'ť CBS, 9.4 million.
3. 'œEqualizer," CBS, 8.2 million.
4. 'œFBI,'ť CBS, 7.7 million.
5. 'œYoung Sheldon,'ť CBS, 7.6 million.
6. 'œChicago Fire,'ť NBC, 7.5 million.
7. 'œChicago Med,'ť NBC, 7.3 million.
8. "American Idol, ABC, 6.9 million.
9. 'œ911,'ť Fox, 6.87 million.
10. 'œBlue Bloods,'ť CBS, 6.5 million.
11. 'œChicago PD,'ť NBC, 6.3 million.
12. 'œNCIS: Los Angeles,'ť 6.1 million.
13. 'œThe Neighborhood,'ť CBS, 6 million.
14. 'œMagnum P.I.,'ť CBS, 5.8 million.
15. 'œFBI: Most Wanted,'ť CBS, 5.6 million.
16. 'œAmerica's Funniest Home Videos,'ť ABC, 5.97 million.
17. 'œ911: Lone Star,'ť Fox, 5.6 million.
18. 'œCelebrity Wheel of Fortune,'ť ABC, 5.57 million.
19. 'œBob Hearts Abishola,'ť CBS, 5.54 million.
20. 'œThe Bachelor,'ť ABC, 5.52 million.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton